Sam Dillon: My Ideal

Any impartial assessment of My Ideal, Sam Dillon's second album for Cellar Music (following 2018's Out in the Open), should leave no doubt that the New York-born and based tenor saxophonist has definitely hit his stride, punctuating an already strong and persuasive voice on the horn with ample self-confidence and and a bounteous wellspring of innovative concepts and ingenious phrases.

In other words, Dillon is the whole package, swinging in the same league as such heralded contemporaries as Eric Alexander, Chris Potter, Joshua Redman and Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, while proving a worthy successor to such legendary masters as John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Hank Mobley, Sonny Stitt, Joe Henderson and a host of others. Before dismissing that as mere hyperbole, listen closely to My Ideal and decide for yourself.

Of course, no one (aside from, perhaps, Art Tatum or Keith Jarrett) can carry an album on his back alone, and Dillon's collaborators encompass a trio of blue-chip New York-area players: pianist David Hazeltine, bassist Alexander Claffy and drummer Rodney Green. Together, the ensemble sails seamlessly through a handsome playlist that includes four epic standards from the Great American Songbook enhanced by a quartet of Dillon's stylish original compositions.

The studio date gets off to an awesome start with Dillon's sturdy "No Promises" (inspired by Coltrane's "The Promise"), wherein he delivers the first of his invariably impressive solos (as does Hazeltine). "Morning Sunrise" (taken at a pleasingly groovy pace) is next, followed by Dillon's urbane "Past Time," the Rodgers and Hart staple "Have You Met Miss Jones" (excellent solo by Claffy), along with Richard Whiting and Leo Robin's plaintive "My Ideal," on which Dillon's unaccompanied intro is spellbinding. Cole Porter's lighthearted "I Love You" (again showcasing Claffy's resonant bass) leads to Dillon's final compositions, the freewheeling "Path of Totality" and blues-based "SD Card."

My Ideal is an excellent session from stem to stern, and a bright feather in the cap of Dillon, one of the jazz scene's rising stars on the tenor saxophone. Listeners should be embracing and applauding his singular artistry for years to come.

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